Family Office in Canada: Rules, Costs and Tax in 2026
Canada has no family office regime: securities registration under National Instrument 31-103 turns on whether a firm trades or advises for a business purpose, and the only family office relief found is an Alberta Securities Commission order of 27 September 2024 exempting one single family office, Paragon Capital Corp. Inc., from dealer, adviser and investment fund manager registration, which the law firm BLG called novel. Canada has no inheritance tax on heirs (CRA says most inheritances are not reported as income); instead a person who dies is treated as selling capital property at fair market value just before death, with a rollover for a surviving spouse, and provinces charge probate fees. Income tax combines a federal top rate of 33% (2026) with provincial rates, for top combined rates of about 53.5% in Ontario and British Columbia, 53.3% in Québec and 48% in Alberta (our calculation). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Best for: Families who live in Canada, or who can move to Québec under its investor program, and want to hold family wealth in a Canadian private corporation, and who accept full federal and provincial income tax, tax on unrealised gains at death and on leaving Canada, and a case-by-case securities registration analysis for the office.
At a glance
| Licence | No family office exemption in NI 31-103; Alberta exempted one SFO from registration (2024) |
|---|---|
| Minimum wealth | No wealth minimum in NI 31-103, its Companion Policy or the Alberta Paragon order |
| Who counts as family | No national definition; Paragon order: descendants of a common ancestor and spouses |
| Serving several families | No MFO category; general NI 31-103 registration (portfolio manager, exempt market dealer) |
| Law and courts | Federal and provincial tax; provincial securities regulators (CSA); Québec civil law |
| Substance | No rule found; Paragon's office must be family-owned and family-controlled, no advertising |
| Holding vehicles | Private corporations, trusts incl. spouse trusts; Québec usufruct and substitution |
| Corporate tax | Federal 15% plus provincial: 26.5% Ontario, 27% BC combined (9% federal small business) |
| Family office tax | No family office regime; extra refundable 10 2/3% tax on CCPC investment income |
| Personal income tax | Federal 14% to 33% (2026) plus provincial: top about 53.5% Ontario and BC (our calc.) |
| Inheritance tax | No inheritance tax; gains taxed at death (spouse rollover); Ontario probate 1.5% over CAD 50k |
| Wills and succession | Provincial: Ontario spousal election and dependants' support; BC courts can vary wills |
| Residence | Québec investor: CAD 2m net worth, CAD 1m for 5 years, CAD 200k contribution, French |
| Time to set up | No official figure found |
| Official fees | No official figure found |
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Licence and who qualifies
How is a family office licensed in Canada?
No family office registration category or exemption was found in National Instrument 31-103 or its Companion Policy 31-103CP. The Companion Policy says registration as a dealer or adviser depends on trading or advising for a business purpose, judged by factors such as acting like a registrant, intermediating trades, repetition, compensation and solicitation, and that advice tailored to a client's needs and circumstances is specific advice that needs registration. The Alberta Securities Commission's order Re Paragon Capital Corp. Inc. (27 September 2024, 2024 ABASC 154) exempts that firm from the dealer, adviser and investment fund manager registration requirements in sections 75(1) and 75(2) of the Securities Act (Alberta), only for services to its office clients within a family office, on conditions such as no advertising and no holding out as a registrant, until 180 days after any change to Alberta securities law on family offices. The law firm BLG calls this relief novel, says a single family office may otherwise require registration and the analysis can be quite fact specific, and says it remains to be seen whether other CSA members will grant similar relief; no statement on single family offices by the Ontario Securities Commission, the BC Securities Commission, Québec's Autorité des marchés financiers or the CSA was found. [1, 2, 3, 13]
What is the minimum wealth for a family office in Canada?
No minimum family wealth in NI 31-103, its Companion Policy 31-103CP or the Alberta Securities Commission's Paragon order, which sets no asset threshold for its family clients; only its legacy clients (up to five long-standing non-family clients) must be accredited investors or sign a risk acknowledgement. No family office rule that could set a minimum was found. [1, 2, 13]
Who counts as family?
No national definition was found, because NI 31-103 has no family office category. The Paragon order (Alberta, 2024) defines family members as all lineal descendants of a common ancestor, including by adoption, stepchildren and foster children, plus their spouses or adult interdependent partners, with the common ancestor no more than 10 generations above the youngest generation. Its family clients also include former family members, key employees and their spouses or partners, non-profit or charitable organizations funded only by family clients, estates of family clients, trusts for family clients and companies wholly owned by family clients, and the office may also serve up to five legacy clients served continuously for at least 15 years; these definitions apply only to that order. [1, 2]
Can one office serve several families?
No registration category for multi-family offices was found. The general NI 31-103 categories apply to a firm in the business of advising or dealing: portfolio manager, or restricted portfolio manager limited to specific securities or sectors, for advice tailored to clients; exempt market dealer, which may deal only in the exempt market; and investment fund manager for a firm that directs an investment fund. Before the Alberta relief, Paragon's affiliate ROQ Capital Partners Ltd. was registered in Alberta as an exempt market dealer, investment fund manager and restricted portfolio manager (ASC order), and BLG says it was registered to provide those services. [1, 2, 3]
Law, substance and vehicles
Which law and courts apply?
Canada is a federation: income tax is levied by the federal government and by the province of residence on 31 December, securities firms are registered and supervised by provincial and territorial regulators that apply national instruments such as NI 31-103 through the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and wills, estates and probate fees are set by each province, for example Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act and Family Law Act and British Columbia's Wills, Estates and Succession Act. Québec has its own civil law institutions, such as the usufruct and the substitution, which the Income Tax Act deems to be trusts (CRA). [1, 2, 7, 14, 15, 16]
What substance is required?
No office, staff or spending rule for a single family office was found. Under the Paragon order the family office must have no clients other than its office clients, be wholly owned by family clients and exclusively controlled by family members, not advertise through general media in Canada or hold itself out as a registrant, and give each client a statement, signed as acknowledged, that it is not registered and that the protection available to clients of a registered dealer does not apply. [2]
Which holding vehicles are available?
Families use private corporations (a Canadian-controlled private corporation pays an extra refundable tax on investment income, see family office tax) and trusts, including testamentary spouse or common-law partner trusts that defer tax on property left to a spouse; in Québec a usufruct, a right of use or habitation and a substitution are deemed to be trusts for income tax. The Paragon order lists family trusts, non-profit or charitable organizations funded by family clients and companies wholly owned by family clients among the structures a family office may serve. [2, 5, 16, 17]
Tax
What is the corporate tax rate?
The federal basic rate of Part I tax is 38% of taxable income, 28% after the federal abatement and a net 15% after the general tax reduction; Canadian-controlled private corporations claiming the small business deduction pay a net 9%. Provinces add their own tax: CRA lists Ontario at 11.5% (3.2% on income eligible for the small business deduction) and British Columbia at 12% (2%), giving general combined rates of 26.5% in Ontario and 27% in British Columbia (our calculation); Québec and Alberta collect their own corporate tax and are not in CRA's table. A family holding company pays these ordinary rates; the rules for its investment income are under family office tax. [18]
Are there tax incentives for family offices?
No tax regime for family offices was found in CRA's pages. A Canadian-controlled private corporation pays an additional refundable tax of 10 2/3% on its investment income, and amounts in its non-eligible refundable dividend tax on hand pool are refunded when it pays taxable dividends, at 38 1/3% of the dividends paid (CRA T2 Corporation Income Tax Guide for 2025, updated May 2026). The tax treatment of dividends received from other Canadian companies was not checked. [17, 18]
Is there personal income tax?
Residents pay federal and provincial income tax, with the provincial part set by the province of residence on 31 December. For 2026 federal rates run from 14% to 33% above CAD 258,482. The top provincial rates are 13.16% above CAD 220,000 in Ontario, plus an Ontario surtax of 20% of Ontario tax above CAD 5,818 and a further 36% above CAD 7,446 (2026 thresholds in CRA's payroll formulas); 20.5% above CAD 265,545 in British Columbia; 15% above CAD 370,220 in Alberta; and 25.75% above CAD 132,245 in Québec, where federal tax is reduced by the Québec abatement of 16.5% of basic federal tax. This gives top combined rates of about 53.53% in Ontario, 53.5% in British Columbia, 53.31% in Québec and 48% in Alberta (our calculation from these official rates). One half of a capital gain is included in income (Department of Finance; CRA applies this 'currently enacted' rate), so the top rate on gains is about 26.8% in Ontario and British Columbia (our calculation); the planned rise to two thirds, deferred to 1 January 2026, was cancelled (Prime Minister's announcement of 21 March 2025, noted by CRA in a page updated June 2026). No special regime for new residents was found, and people who leave Canada are considered to have sold certain property, such as shares, at fair market value and may owe tax on the gain ('departure tax'), with Form T1161 required if all their property is worth more than CAD 25,000. [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23]
Is there inheritance or estate tax?
Canada has no inheritance tax on heirs: CRA says most gifts and inheritances are not reported as income. Instead, a person who dies is considered to have disposed of capital property at fair market value immediately before death, and the taxable part of the gain (one half, see personal tax) goes on their final income tax return. Property left to a surviving spouse or common-law partner resident in Canada, or to a spouse trust resident in Canada under which the spouse is entitled to all the income for life and no one else may receive income or capital while the spouse lives, rolls over with the tax deferred if it vests within 36 months, unless the legal representative elects out; a gain on a principal residence may be exempt, and a spouse trust is itself deemed to sell its property when the spouse dies. Provinces charge probate fees on the estate's value: Ontario's estate administration tax is CAD 15 per CAD 1,000 (or part) above CAD 50,000 (about 1.5%), with none on estates of CAD 50,000 or less (since 1 January 2020), and British Columbia charges CAD 6 per CAD 1,000 between CAD 25,000 and CAD 50,000 and CAD 14 per CAD 1,000 above CAD 50,000; Québec and Alberta were not checked. [4, 5, 6, 16, 20, 24]
Succession and residence
How do wills and succession work?
Succession is provincial. In Ontario an estate normally follows the will, but a surviving married spouse can elect, within six months of the death, to claim an equalization payment of half the difference in net family property under the Family Law Act, people who depended on the deceased can claim support, and a common-law spouse does not inherit on intestacy under the Succession Law Reform Act. In British Columbia the Wills, Estates and Succession Act lets the court vary a will where the deceased did not adequately provide for a spouse or children, with a time limit of about six months; no fixed reserved share for children was found in the Ontario or British Columbia sources, and Québec's civil law rules were not checked. [14, 15, 16]
Can the family get residence?
No federal investor programme was found open: IRCC paused the Start-up Visa Program on 30 June 2026 (applications accepted before then are still processed), and paused new applications to the Self-Employed Persons Program from 30 April 2024, saying it was restricting intake through the end of 2026 (news release of April 2024; the program's current page could not be opened). Québec's Investor Program accepts applications at any time with no cap (pages updated December 2025 and August 2026): a net worth of at least CAD 2 million lawfully acquired (which may be shared with an included spouse), a five-year CAD 1 million investment made through a financial intermediary, guaranteed by the Government of Québec and repaid without interest at term, a CAD 200,000 financial contribution, two years of management experience in the last five, a qualifying diploma, spoken French at level 7 on the Québec scale, and at least 12 months in Québec within two years of the work permit being issued (at least 6 of them by the applicant personally). After Québec's notice of intention to select, the applicant has six months to apply to the Government of Canada for a work permit for the family; the spouse and dependent children can be included (no review fee for them; CAD 18,241 for the principal applicant in 2026), and Québec lists the program under permanent immigration, leading to a Québec Selection Certificate; how long the work permit lasts was not found. [12, 25, 26, 27, 28]
Time and fees
How long does set-up take?
Not found in official sources.
What are the official fees?
Not found in official sources: federal and provincial incorporation fees were not checked, no family office licence fee exists because no family office regime was found, and securities registration and exemption application fees were not checked. The only official fee found is the Québec Investor Program review fee of CAD 18,241 for the principal applicant (2026), listed under residency. [28]
Pros and cons
Pros
- No inheritance tax on heirs (CRA: most inheritances are not reported as income): tax arises on gains the deceased is deemed to realise at death, and property left to a spouse or spouse trust in Canada rolls over with the tax deferred.
- Only half of a capital gain is included in income, and the planned rise to two thirds was cancelled (Prime Minister's announcement of 21 March 2025, noted by CRA).
- Québec's Investor Program accepts applications at any time with no cap: CAD 2 million net worth, a CAD 1 million five-year investment guaranteed by Québec and a CAD 200,000 contribution, with spouse and children included.
Cons
- No family office exemption was found in NI 31-103: the only relief found is one Alberta Securities Commission order for a single family office (Paragon, 2024), and BLG says other regulators' approach remains to be seen.
- High taxes: a federal top rate of 33% (2026) plus provincial tax gives about 53.5% in Ontario and British Columbia (our calculation), and people leaving Canada may owe departure tax on gains on property such as shares.
- Federal business immigration routes are paused (the Start-up Visa since 30 June 2026, the Self-Employed Persons Program since 30 April 2024), and Québec's investor route requires spoken French at level 7.
